Story: Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis, born in Belfast, Northern
Ireland in 1898, was a renowned author of children’s books, such as
“The Chronicles of Narnia” and “The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe,” and a Cambridge professor of Medieval and Renaissance
English for nearly 30 years. He also was a staunch defender of
Christianity following an earlier, atheistic period, debating the
complexities of religion in the modern world with his older brother
Warnie and several colleagues from Oxford. His predictable
bachelor existence was challenged, however, when he began a
correspondence with American Jewish poet Joy Gresham, who was
intrigued by his writings and introduced herself by letter.

When Joy and her young son eventually visited Lewis, she
confided that her husband was leaving her for another woman.
Gresham became divorced and moved to England, where Lewis proposed
a marriage of convenience so that she could remain. Eventually
they fell in love, but not before she was stricken with a cancer
that took her life just a few years later, confronting Lewis with
the difficult juxtaposition of intense emotional pain and his
unyielding theological beliefs.

Highlights: William Nicholson “Shadowlands,” for British TV
in 1985 and adapted it to the stage in 1989 prior to a cinema
version in 1993 that starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. The
work enjoyed success in all three forms, and now is being staged
locally in a polished and aesthetically sound production at Mustard
Seed Theatre under the direction of artistic director Deanna
Jent.

Other Info: Set designer Courtney Sanazaro sets the tone for
this meticulous work with her handsome representation of Lewis’
academic digs that he shares with his brother and fellow bachelor
Warnie. Props master Jon Hisaw sprinkles suitable accoutrements,
such as looming bookshelves, a chess set, some comfy chairs and
drinking glasses about in the main area, while a tiny area at stage
right serves as Joy’s hospital room and her own modest
apartment.

Michael Sullivan’s precise lighting underscores the magical
realm of Lewis’ fiction, which opens to young Douglas as he enters
the writer’s ‘wardrobe’ (closet), showing the appeal of Lewis’
ideas to his youthful readers. The prim and proper costumes
designed by Jane Sullivan further anchor the play in the staid,
stuffy environment of British academia, accentuated by Kareem
Deanes’ carefully chosen selection of classical pieces in his sound
design.

Gary Wayne Barker shows his customary ability to shape a
performance with a delivery and interpretation that breathe life
into a character, in this case the very real Lewis. One scene in
particular exemplifies Lewis’ careful approach to life, when Jent
has Barker and Kelley Ryan as Joy awkwardly standing a distance of
six feet or so apart that appears more like six football fields to
underscore Lewis’ stiff, overly careful sense of propriety,
remnants of his painfully lonely childhood after the unexpected
death of his mother.

Ryan conveys the yearnings and heartbreak of Gresham as well
as her fiercely independent and intellectual spirit, something that
Lewis’ cadre of old boys finds unsettling. That collection of
not-so-jolly fellows includes Richard Lewis in a sparkling
performance as Lewis’ retired military brother Warnie, whose candor
about Joy is both predictable and later refreshing; B. Weller as
the curmudgeonly atheist Christopher Riley; Terry Meddows as the
slightly pompous cleric Rev. Harry Harrington; and Michael
Brightman and Charlie Barron as academic pals Maurice Oakley and
Alan Gregg, respectively.

Jackson Mabrey suitably shows the curiosity of young Douglas
as he meets the renowned writer of children’s books as well as
Douglas’ loneliness as the security of his parents’ marriage
crumbles. Carmen Russell and David Chandler capably handle smaller
roles, as do Brightman as a rather brusque physician and Barron as
a pair of quirky ministers.

The title refers to a term used by Lewis to describe a land
where people live without sunshine, both literally and
figuratively. That’s part of the primary problem with this
presentation, which too often is precious and delicate, more a
curio piece than vibrant theater. As a result, its ponderous
approach makes one appreciate life more by comparison than by
admiration.